Update 5:

We are going to answer a few common questions and talk about some important developments in this update. First off, we have a new team member!

As you probably know, a couple of the same profiles have been spurring negativity in the comments section. They've even sent links to Kickstarter projects that they are affiliated with. This negativity has escalated to the point where we've been getting full on death threats recently. We're not sure who's doing this, but we have an idea, and it's fairly easy to track down their IP addresses. We have contacted the people who we suspect are doing this. For anyone who is participating in this, endangering people's lives goes beyond trolling and spreading lies. It's crossing a red line that should never be crossed.

We will have to file a police report with the appropriate authorities if this continues. One of our team members has even asked us to remove his image from Kickstarter (he's still on our team), because people have threatened his family's lives if we don't remove his image. We never thought in a million years that this game would cause so much controversy. It feels like we're running for office!

With that said, we will weather the storm and continue this Kickstarter as planned. We've contacted multiple news outlets and answered any questions that they may have.

Something really weird that's come up a lot is that some people are saying that we're actors (someone even mentioned that we are robots :)) They've pointed to shutterstock images as "proof" of that. First off, check out our video update (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577656602/areal/posts/890951 ). When you're done with that, feel free to check out resources such as google or linkdn if you have any more doubts.

Getting into a bit more detail regarding the shutterstock photos of us; the images of Eugene Kim and Peter Dushynskyi were made by Dmitry Panchenko, Art Director of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online (he obtained this position after Ilya Tolmachev had left the project https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ilya-tolmachev/18/77/b97), with whom some of our team used to work with. He is also a photographer and the photos were made during the photo session on the TFP basis. Proper model releases were signed, so he had all rights to use this image for stock photos. If you take a look at his portfolio, you can see a few specialists from Vostok Games as well :).

We want to say that we have a lot of people who aren't mentioned on our Kickstarter, but are still a part of our team. That includes people who work on administrative, legal, organizational and PR aspects. This is wholly their decision, and we fully understand that, because not everyone wants to be the subject of constant scrutiny and accusations. Regarding Leo, he handles some legal and financial aspects of our game. We've heard of conspiracy theories about him, but we honestly don't care if he has or hasn't filed lawsuits in the past (if it's even the same Leo).

Lastly, we want future updates to be about AREAL itself, and not about us having to prove that we are who we say we are. In that spirit, below is a new image of one of the vehicles that you can use to navigate the world of Areal. Updates will continue on a daily basis, and we'll post more video updates too. Some will talk about gameplay, others will introduce new people, and others will just be about us messing around. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read our updates!

Comments

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577656602/areal/posts/919071:
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Thank you to all the news sites that have written about our new teaser, and a special thanks to (among many others) Polygon, Gamer's Hell, PC Games N, Load the Game and Geeky Gadgets for reporting objectively and without any personal bias. Even bigger thanks to the 1,000+ people who have backed us so far. We are so happy to see more than 780 results show up when we type in "Areal Kickstarter" on google's news section! We have raised roughly 76 percent of our base goal, so we really are in the home stretch now! We need you, our backers' help, to get us to at least a hundred percent -- all you need to do is talk about Areal with your friends and share us on social media sites. If everyone got just one friend to contribute, then we would go way beyond our base goal. We have made some mistakes over the course of this Kickstarter, but the fact is that we are trying our hardest, and we hope that you'll help us make Areal a reality.
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In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. Like any pejorative term, it can be used as an ad hominem attack, suggesting a negative motivation.

As noted in an OS News article titled "Why People Troll and How to Stop Them" (January 25, 2012), "The traditional definition of trolling includes intent. That is, trolls purposely disrupt forums. This definition is too narrow. Whether someone intends to disrupt a thread or not, the results are the same if they do." Others have addressed the same issue, e.g., Claire Hardaker, in her Ph.D. thesis "Trolling in asynchronous computer-mediated communication: From user discussions to academic definitions", and Dr. Phil. Popular recognition of the existence (and prevalence) of non-deliberate, "accidental trolls", has been documented widely, in sources as diverse as the Urban Dictionary, Nicole Sullivan's keynote speech at the 2012 Fluent Conference, titled "Don't Feed the Trolls" Gizmodo, online opinions on the subject written by Silicon Valley executives and comics.

Regardless of the circumstances, controversial posts may attract a particularly strong response from those unfamiliar with the robust dialogue found in some online, rather than physical, communities. Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is usually to ignore it, because responding tends to encourage trolls to continue disruptive posts – hence the often-seen warning: "Please do not feed the trolls".

Early incidents of trolling were considered to be the same as flaming, but this has changed with modern usage by the news media to refer to the creation of any content that targets another person. The Internet dictionary NetLingo suggests there are four grades of trolling: playtime trolling, tactical trolling, strategic trolling, and domination trolling. The relationship between trolling and flaming was observed in open-access forums in California, on a series of modem-linked computers. CommuniTree was begun in 1978 but was closed in 1982 when accessed by high school teenagers, becoming a ground for trashing and abuse. Some psychologists have suggested that flaming would be caused by deindividuation or decreased self-evaluation: the anonymity of online postings would lead to disinhibition amongst individuals Others have suggested that although flaming and trolling is often unpleasant, it may be a form of normative behavior that expresses the social identity of a certain user group According to Tom Postmes, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the universities of Exeter, England, and Groningen, The Netherlands, and the author of Individuality and the Group, who has studied online behavior for 20 years, "Trolls aspire to violence, to the level of trouble they can cause in an environment. They want it to kick off. They want to promote antipathetic emotions of disgust and outrage, which morbidly gives them a sense of pleasure."

In academic literature, the practice of trolling was first documented by Judith Donath (1999). Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied "virtual community" such as Usenet:

In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.

Donath provides a concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community:

Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they – and the troll – understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.

Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community. Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling – where the rate of deception is high – many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation.

Susan Herring and colleagues in "Searching for Safety Online: Managing 'Trolling' in a Feminist Forum" point out the difficulty inherent in monitoring trolling and maintaining freedom of speech in online communities: "harassment often arises in spaces known for their freedom, lack of censure, and experimental nature". Free speech may lead to tolerance of trolling behavior, complicating the members' efforts to maintain an open, yet supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality.

Regarding Leo, you better make sure he is trustworthy and check his background, for your sake and for ours. We will feel much, much better about our investment if you do. Honestly, you should care if he has or hasn't filed lawsuits in the past, regardless of any conspiracy theories.

It would be such a shame to win this kickstarter campaign only to have some scam artist to run away if all the money, with all due respect. You may show us a great game in making but if there is a shadow of doubt West Games or Leo are legit I won't be part of this.

I too hope this will succeed. The game world sounds fascinating, but this whole kickstarter is shrouded in a thick fog. You could clear so much doubt just by releasing a reasonable length video (3-5 minutes) of unedited gameplay in whatever state the game is. Spend less time worrying about people making claims that cannot be proven, No one has any definitive proof of a scam, and you guys could easily clear all of the claims in some well thought out updates.

I just don't get why you have to push this project through. If its a legit project you could get to the million easy. However now theres a way to huge shitstorm around this kickstarter. Just do a new one in a few month when you have something to show. Then youll get the funding you deserve

I backed you - and I hope, that this game becomes true and you get the honor you deserve.
But, there is some kind of sad taste.
so, PLEASE, give us a video-update of the gameplay, some infos about the plast progress and so.
This would help me, and I think a lot other people, to feel better and sleep well :).

Ha! My kick is a buck too DeafTard! Honestly I'm following just to see if and when this project crashes or takes flight, and a buck is a pretty cheap way to do that. Still I don't disagree that should things turn around and it becomes clear that this is more that a design document and excitement then yeah, I'll kick in something more, but until then there's just too much uncertainty.

keep giving us REAL updates and maybe the threats will stop, it sucks that you guys have to go through this but please prove them wrong by doing more than just showing a 1 min video of your team, show us art, real footage and more. Like what darrin said below me and most of all we have to agree that this project could of been presented better since there are more questions that need answering, please fix this West Games and I will raise my pledge back up because it will remain at $1 for now.

and I want to say you should concentrate less on disparaging remarks on the internet and more on proving your detractors wrong. Drown them in concept art, model renders and descriptions of features that you need a proprietary engine for. I'm struggling to imagine what systems or effects arent reproducible in Unreal Tech or the Cry Engine, but I sure would like to be enlightened, as would the rest of your backers and backers to be!

To put it another way: 'talk is cheap because supply exceeds the demand'.

Thank you so much for this update guys! It was so interesting to read it! You should know, that many people support you and believe you! Keep it up! Que bem! :)
We will be waiting for a new updates, news, videos, gameplay! Thank ou so much for everything! And don't mind on some idiots who talk nonsense about you! Many people are on your side! You are great! Many people believe, thAT IT WILL BE AWESOME GAME! And... (I only can imagine) let those people who said many shit about you - then they will shut up seeing how much great, interesting and awesome the game will be!
Muito obrigada pra voces! Voces sao fixe! Forca forca forca Areal! Forca West Games!
P.S. Those who says that I'm fake or troll - kiss my ass shitty shcoolars! :-P
I Love you! Eu gosto muito deste! Muito obrigada! Eh, voces voces.... mmmmmwah! ;) <3